Introduction

Refugee Initiatives

… in Germany

Refugee Initiatives

… in Berlin

Refugee Initiatives

… the example of “Moabit hilft” in Berlin Moabit

Theory and Hypotheses

We test for common determinants of political participation used in the social capital theory:

• Age (+)
• Gender (males +)
• Education (+)
• GDP per capita (+)
• Unemployment rate (-)

Theory and Hypotheses

Furthermore, we control for

• Population density (“city effect”)
• Number of refugees per district (“need hypothesis”)
• East/West Germany
• Voter turnour (catch all variable for political participation)

Data Sources

• ProAsyl map ¹
• German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy ²
• German Federal Statistical Office ³
• German Regional Statistical Offices ⁴

Dependent variable

Descriptive Statistics

East-West

Descriptive Statistics

East-West

Descriptive Statistics

Age (Old Age Dependency Ratio = population 65+ by population 15-64)

Descriptive Statistics

Age (Old Age Dependency Ratio = population 65+ by population 15-64)

Descriptive Statistics

Voter Turnout

Descriptive Statistics

Voter Turnout

Regression

Predicted Number of Initiatives

East-West Divide

Age

GDP per capita

Gender

Voter Turnout

Conclusion - Suprising

• Negative effect age
• Negative effect male ratio
• High number of refugee initiatives in East-Germany

Conclusion - Expected

• Positive effect turnout
• Positive effect GDP (weak)
• Positive effect cities (weak)

Careful!

Do not make conclusions about individuals

Play with it

Thank you for your attention!